A Handpicked Team for a Foreign Policy Shift  —  WASHINGTON — When President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it will include two veteran cold warriors and a political rival whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president who will face them in the White House Situation Room.

Sad News: Tanta Passes Away  —  My dear friend and co-blogger Doris “Tanta” Dungey passed away early this morning.  I would like to express my deepest condolences to her family and friends.  —  Photo: Tanta in 2004 (from her sister Cathy).  —  From David Streitfeld at the NY Times …

The Chris Matthews Show: Obama's Problems Will Come From The Angry Left, Not Republicans  —  John Amato has blogged about this and this clip from this week's The Chris Matthews Show is proof positive that the progressive blogosphere must be smart about picking battles in pushing a liberal agenda for America.

‘We thought we were safe... then CNN stepped in!’  —  A SOUTH Wales couple caught in the Mumbai terror attacks claimed last night that CNN put their lives at risk by broadcasting where they were.  —  Lynne and Kenneth Shaw, of Penarth, warned that terrorists were listening in to the media to pinpoint Western victims.

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security  —  The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

NY Times Scurrying To Give Obama Victory Credit For Their Shared Defeat In Iraq  —  Barack Obama and his Democratic allies have famously done everything in their power to try to lose the Iraqi War while President Bush is in office, but now that everyone with any understanding of the conflict knows …

Jihad's True Face  —  Much of the reporting from Mumbai the last few days has been informative, gripping and often moving.  Some of the commentary, on the other hand, has been not just uninformative but counterinformative — if that's a term, and if it's not, I say it should be.

Dick Durbin misses the point about Ryan  —  Just before Thanksgiving, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) moistened his finger and, as he has done so many times in his career, held the digit aloft to check the prevailing winds.  —  This time, when he figured the winds were just right …

Senior Official Offers to Quit in Mumbai Attacks  —  MUMBAI, India — With an anguished Indian public angrily questioning government leaders in the wake of the deadly terror attacks on Mumbai, the leader of the state government offered to step down on Monday.

‘The Doves Were Right’  —  In 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy brought to Washington a new generation of pragmatic young activists who came to be known as the New Frontiersmen.  When the journalist Theodore White later wrote a memorable photo essay about them for Life magazine, he called them the “action-intellectuals.”

Deficits and the Future  —  Right now there's intense debate about how aggressive the United States government should be in its attempts to turn the economy around.  Many economists, myself included, are calling for a very large fiscal expansion to keep the economy from going into free fall.

Obama's inaugural oath  —  When Obama takes the oath of office, there's no reason not to include his middle name.  —  When George W. Bush was sworn in for his second term in 2005, he began his oath of office with the words: “I, George Walker Bush.”  Never mind that Bush isn't in the habit …

Threat of ACLU lawsuit means no cross in Pontchatula  —  The huge cross near Ponchatoula's downtown locomotive won't be covered with blazing white bulbs for this year's Christmas Lights Festival.  —  Instead, a second bar has been added to display banners advertising citywide events.

Latinos unhappy with Obama picks  —  If there is one message President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has broadcast about Cabinet picks, it is that ethnicity and gender will not be the first considerations when filling the slots.  —  Credentials over tokenism, after all …